Visions Between Frames: Jarvis Cocker’s Earth Song and other stories

In classical screen studies the frame is often a fixed unit of meaning in which significance – however complex or sophisticated – can be located and contained. This talk considers some ways in which stories can also exist in the gaps between formal mise-en-scène, impacting beyond the field of vision to create ambiguity, conflict or instability within the screen image.

The discussion centres upon a moment at the 1996 Brits Awards ceremony when Jarvis Cocker took to the stage during Michael Jackson’s performance to deliver an impromptu protest. At first, these actions did not even exist on screen, edited out of the official television broadcast before being leaked days later. From then on, the meanings could not settle, caught up in a swirl of moral ambiguity and conflicted allegiances. Yet, between the moving pictures, those individuals - their industry - perhaps an entire culture - were in states of flux and fragmentation. Identities were falling apart, pulling together, claiming status and conceding ground.

The wild incongruity of Cocker and Jackson onstage begins to encapsulate that wider volatility: absorbing and projecting the tremors that shook the worlds beyond. Here, the frame becomes tangible and elusive – a physical artefact of something that really happened and a liminal space that is always collapsing and reforming.

Inaugural lectures are a landmark in academic life, held on the appointment of new professorships. Join us to learn more about the work of Professor James Walters.

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

You can learn more about other forthcoming talks and view our archive of previous lectures on our CAL Inaugural Lectures webpage.